Handmade Beauty Connection
A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network 1. IBN Member Update: Welcome New & Renewing IBN Members! Handmade
Beauty Recipe of the Week: Comfrey Comfort Baby Oil
May
22, 2006
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 7, Issue 22
To subscribe, click here
2. Handmade Beauty Business Magazine: "It's Fantastic!!"
3. Lifestyle CEO Report: Moms Are Saying "Bye-Bye" to the Boardroom!
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win something wonderful!
5. Feature Article: The Second Second Career
6. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Hugs and Kisses Body Creme
7. Here & There: Calendar of Upcoming Events
1. IBN Member Update: Welcome New & Renewing IBN Members!
Welcome
Renewing Members!
Deal
Farm Soap Co. | Renee Deal | Massachusetts
* Deal Farm Soap Company specializes in goat milk soaps and natural skin
care products for sensitive skin. Our nourishing and gentle soaps are made
with fresh goat milk, premium vegetable oils, and pure essential oils. Our
Skin Therapy Creme and Shea Butter Cremes are essential for those with dry
skin. We even offer a natural goat milk soap to keep your dog's coat fresh
and shiny. Retail / Wholesale / Private Label. Deal Farm was featured in
last week's newsletter in an article entitled, "From
Layoff to Payoff."
Sweet
River Soap Company | Paula Plascjak | California
* Handmade soaps, bath fizzies, solid salt scrubs, lip balm, bottled bath
salts.
Alima
Cosmetics | Kathy O'Brien | Oregon
* Alima Cosmetics, Inc. began in Portland, Oregon in 2004 out of a love of
the dazzling colors of mineral cosmetics. We specialize in handcrafting
mineral makeup using the purest ingredients available. Alima's mineral
makeup is created with luxurious microfine cosmetics-grade pigments. Mica
provides subtle reflective properties to enhance the appearance of the skin,
titanium dioxide and zinc oxide provide sun protection and anti-inflammatory
benefits, and iron oxides provide beautiful, natural color.
Welcome New Members!
Uptown
Flavors | Sophia Sylvester | New York
* High quality candles, body care and home decor.
Kokopelli
Natural Bath & Body | Candace Sweeney | Michigan
* Handmade soaps, solid lotions, scrubs, body oils, and more made from the
finest ingredients. Mostly natural, and organic when possible.
Naturals
by Kristen | Kristen Wilson | Wisconsin
* Specializing in homemade, made to order shampoos, conditioners, lotions,
soaps, ointments, pet shampoos and treats, Wiccan Ritual soaps, baby washes
and lotions.
The
Essence of You | Tieast Smith | Pennsylvania
* The Essence of You brings to you, Body Indulgence, a lavish line of
natural body care products. We have searched far and wide to offer you
exotic blends of natural ingredients that will nurture and pamper your skin.
We use natural ingredients like Monoi and Baobab oils, to create luxurious
products like skin quenching lotions and moisturizing body polishes all made
to nourish and pamper your skin.
Life
Smells Good | Theresa Cangialosi | Maryland
* We provide state of the art knowledge in professional aromatherapy, with
expertise in custom blending, hands on treatments and education. We feature
an aromatherapy bar, with only the highest grades of essential oils. Our
staff has blended over 50,000 formulas. The results are highly therapeutic
body products and other aroma-related products..
JAE
Enterprises | J. Abena Evans | New York
* JAE Enterprises manufactures handmade toiletries such as body butter, hair oils, body scrubs, soaps and personalized fragrant body oils and
colognes.
IBN Members On The Move!
Last week, IBN member Ellie Trinowski of Moonshine Soap (member since July 2001) shared her products with people from across the nation at a premier training event for the US micro-enterprise development industry. The event was co-hosted by the Georgia Micro Enterprise Network in Atlanta, GA. Congratulations Ellie!
Congratulations to Veronika Hinke of Terra Mater Blends, who says, "We are excited about the orders we've received through the Indie Beauty Network!" Veronika, who joined IBN a few months ago, told me that last week that a retail store found her company in IBN's Online Member Directory and placed a substantial order! That's great news Veronika! IBN Rocks!! Want the opportunity to get new customers like Veronika? Join IBN and put the power of IBN to work for your business today!
Here's another IBN success story! Fae Alonso at Sunrise Earth Spa in Florida (member since January 2005), had never worn much makeup herself, but was looking to carry mineral makeup in her spa. After seeing Rhonda Bridges King at Florida-based bareFaced Mineral Cosmetics (member since July 2005) listed in IBN's Online Member Directory, Fae gave her a call. The two hit it off immediately and discussed carrying Rhonda's minerals at Fae's spa. Shortly thereafter Fae headed to New York for product training for an exclusive line of skin care products. She took Rhonda's minerals with her and asked others in the class how they liked mineral makeup. All of them reported bad experiences but Fae gave them Rhonda's business card anyway, and during a class break, Fae called Rhonda and told her to send the trainer some samples right away. Fae enjoyed the training so much that after she ordered Rhonda's minerals, she invited her to train her spa staff on how to use and sell them. Today, Fae is delighted to have a great line of minerals in her spa, plus the training to back them up, and Rhonda has exposure in New York City. And it all started with visits to IBN's website and a follow up phone call. So what are you doing to grow your handmade beauty business today?!
Learn more about our members and their exciting activities by visiting their Web sites through IBN's Online Member Directory, now with 4 ways to search: (1) by state/country; (2) by member business name; (3) by keyword search; or (4) using our new alphabetical listings.
2. Handmade Beauty Business Magazine: It's "Fantastic!"
Thanks
for putting down your issue long enough to enjoy this newsletter! And if you
don't have yours yet, you'll get it this week! Thanks everyone for being so
patient while this issue was assembled. The 1Q 2006 issue
has lots of features including things you need to know
before opening your own retail store, tips on complying with the FDA's Good
Manufacturing Practices and an introduction to the 2006 Handmade Beauty
Business of the Year! Of course IBN members get their issues as a member
benefit but we have lots of subscribers who are simply interested in what
members are doing.I f you haven't yet joined the handmade beauty revolution,
it's not too late! You can subscribe here!
Work is underway on the 2Q issue -- The Soap Issue -- due out early this summer! As we speak, the photographer is setting up to photograph dozens of soaps for the cover. If you haven't discovered soaps made on a small scale -- mainly handmade cold processed soap -- you're in for a treat. Look forward to Handmade Beauty On Display as only IBN can do it!
A later issue this year will contain the entire IBN member directory, which is included as part of the print magazine once a year. If you are a member, be sure to check your listing information in our Online Member Directory. If anything is incorrect, email me so it can be changed and correct in the magazine.
Please visit our magazine sponsors who make it possible for me to bring you this unique publication!
3. Lifestyle CEO Report: Moms Are Saying "Bye-Bye" to the Boardroom!
\Life.Style CEO\n. A person who owns and manages a business, not
solely for financial gain, but also to enjoy the personal rewards of
entrepreneurship, independence, flexibility and fun.
A few decades ago, they were clamoring to get into the boardroom. Today, they are looking for the nearest exit. Why this new revolution? Join Rachel Hamman, author of Bye Bye Boardroom: Confessions From a New Breed of Stay At Home Moms, as we discuss the many new faces of motherhood -- including of course the ones who are building their own boardrooms like so many of you. I'm excited to be one of the moms featured in Rachel's new book!
Join us LIVE at 1:00pm EST at Global Talk Radio.com. Just click on "Listen Live" at the home page to join us! You can be entered to win a FREE copy of Rachel's book by calling us live on the show at (800) 773-0355!!
The Lifestyle CEO
Book! It's Here & Shipping Now! Order
yours today!
Read some excerpts here!
Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered this book! Your wait is over and they are shipping to you this week! If you haven't ordered yours, click here to get your copy! 5% of the purchase price of each Lifestyle CEO book sold online during 2006 will be donated to IBN member The Enterprising Kitchen of Chicago, Illinois. TEK helps uplift women and encourage them to re-discover their talents, gifts and unique abilities to improve their lives and the lives of their families. Click here to learn more about Lifestyle CEO's partnership with TEK.
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: last week's winner was Delores Rys of Pittsburgh, PA. Delores won some illuminating shimmer powder, courtesy of IBN member Alima Cosmetics!, an IBN member since April 2004!
Last Week's Question: State the first and last names of the IBN member whose business is named for the botanical name of the common marshmallow, the healing herbal ingredient that she calls the "star" ingredient in her product line.
Last Week's Answer:
Melanie Teegarden, who has been a member of IBN since January 2006. Visit Melanie at Althaea Soaps and Herbals to find out more.This Week's Question: Which IBN member is featured in the current issue of the Handmade Beauty Business Magazine as most unlikely to ever open a retail store again, and who has been a member of IBN since June 2000?
Be the first to answer correctly and win something wonderful!
Please read the contest rules here
before submitting your entry. Put "TRIVIA CONTEST ANSWER" in the
subject line or your answer will not be considered. While time does not
permit me to respond personally to all entrants, the winner's name will be
announced in the next newsletter!
5. Feature Article: The Second Second Career
by Annette Esterheld
Join
us this month -- the month of Mothers, where we celebrate IBN members who
are also moms!!
Creating the Present From the Past
A lot of people leave one career to begin another, but in the case of IBN member Margaret Hardy of Abbey St. Clare, she brought along two earlier careers to her handmade beauty business. Today, she blends them together as she also mixes and combines her mineral makeup and hair and skin care products. (You can enjoy my review of a favorite Abbey product here.)
The Abbey, located in the small town of Danville, Virginia, was named by Margaret in memory of a beloved uncle who was a Franciscan friar for 50 years before he died in 2002, the year she started the Abbey. As Margaret explains, St. Clare was a contemporary of St. Francis of Assisi and she was known to tend the herbal garden, growing the plants she used to tend to the illnesses of the sisters in her religious order.
Margaret says in her “first life” she was a medical technologist/microbiologist in hospital laboratories. Then her “second life” as a science teacher began when her children were young. “I helped out with a science lab program at a local school and quickly recognized the need for quality science education. She is now finishing her 21st year of teaching by teaching physics.
The Scales of Home and Business
Margaret's “third life,” running the Abbey, began in 2002 when she was asked by a local aesthetician to help develop a line of anti-aging skin care products. Her research evolved into her current venture, Abbey St. Clare.
Margaret works the business when she is not being the mother of three Notre Dame sons and
the wife of a physician. “There is no doubt that balancing a family, a job and a business can be challenging,” she says. “Life is a series of compromises. I’m of the generation that was told by Gloria Steinham that we could have it all. One learned quickly that we could not!”
She says time has taught her that one doesn’t need it all, you just have to recognize your priorities. For her the compromise is keeping her business a manageable size and seeking assistance when necessary. To find the time to work on developing the Abbey, Margaret scaled back on teaching hours in the afternoons. She admits that there are many late nights spent preparing for class and grading papers.
The Abbeys’ products include age defying and health enhancing products for your skin, hair, nails, body, and soul. Margaret says her creams, serums, elixirs, and waters can help you look and feel wonderful with little time and effort. “Using our lotions and potions, soaps and shampoos, you will feel better, too!”
... And People Say They Love It!
I highly recommend checking out the testimonials on Margaret’s website to see what over 50 folks have to say about the various products they have purchased from Abbey St. Clare. From college students who use the Mud Masque when they’re stressed out, to young moms whose babes with diaper rash are comforted by the Neroli Spritzer, all the way through to the 60 plus lady that saw such a difference using Abbey St. Clare products that she’s no longer thinking about having surgery to tighten the skin on her
neck.
When I asked Margaret if she had a favorite, her response? “It’s like being asked to choose your favorite child!” she says. “I am very proud of my skin care products because of the wonderful feedback I have received from customers.”
Goal Getting
“The goal of the Abbey is to help people look wonderful and be healthy, to empower
them to be happy with who they are, and do the best they can with what they have without resorting to expensive procedures or treatments,” says Margaret.
The majority of the Abbey’s products were inspired by customer requests and are targeted for a specific purpose. “They are developed from a perspective that blends scientific, medical, herbal, aromatherapy, and educational experience, “she says.
Margaret chooses the most powerful, safest ingredients and blends them into unique formulations that she says are ‘first and foremost, effective.”
“I do not aim for amassing new products as much as improving current items,” says Margaret. “Knowledge is power! I use the
website and a monthly newsletter to help educate people about ingredients and current research on a variety of skin care and wellness issues.”
“Here at the Abbey we take each person’s concerns very personally and go to great lengths to help people feel confident that they have the best information available for making good choices,” she says.
Margaret is a strong advocate for the medical miracles that the health system has developed, but she also believes that people tend to overuse pharmaceuticals and seek quick fixes instead of looking for natural alternatives. “I want people to see the benefits of taking a more proactive approach to their health and cosmetic routines, enhancing their emotional well being as well as their physical health,:” she says.
Margaret's plans for her business
expansion include turning over some of the customized production of individual products to an outside laboratory and increasing her wholesale business using the online ordering that she just added in a recent website renovation.
Margaret also plans to concentrate more on items that enhance natural healing. “I am especially fond of the wellness area and I’m looking to add essential oils, essential oil synergies, more hydrosols, healing
balms and wellness teas.
Margaret’s Musings
Margaret shared with me several good ideas for other IBN members, especially those of you just starting out. I was impressed by all, but particularly her updated Golden Rule “to respond to your customers the same way you would wish to be treated.” She strongly believes that its better to lose profit than to disappoint someone who has placed their trust in you.
To Be Successful, Margaret Says --
1. Love what you do and believe in yourself and your offerings. This will sustain you through the discouraging days.
2. Estimate the amount of time and energy you think the endeavor will require, and then MULTIPLY
it by ten.
3. Be conscious of the financial investment that will be required. Just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come. You must be able to sustain the business during its building process.
4. Keep your priorities in order. Remember that at the end of the day you won’t regret not selling another bar of soap, but you will regret sacrificing too much family time in the pursuit of success.
5. Last, and certainly not least, seek the advice of other successful people, like other IBN members you read about in
this newsletter or IBN's magazine, or by
perusing IBN's Online
Member Directory. “Many of these wonderful people are very generous with the wisdom of their experience,” says Margaret. “Rising tides lift all boats and there is room for many at the entrepreneurial table."
dM: Our Muse
“Donna Maria is the muse of us all,” says Margaret. “She is a constant source of admiration as
the hub from which so much
information, sense and inspiration flows.” Margaret credits dM with helping her stay centered, and says the advice from IBN’s
"guru has been invaluable in keeping my business focused."
Father's Day Is Coming!
For all you men out there, and the women who love them, Margaret wants you to know that she has several men’s products ready for the picking. Women tell her that the Lazarus Hair Treatment System helps make hair feel fuller. Margaret says she developed the Lazarus products because a hairdresser asked if she could help her customers with thinning hair.
Margaret's website uses color coded letter blocks to make is easy for you to find skin care products to suit your particular needs. You'll find Combination, Oily, Dry, Blemish, Sensitive and All Skin Types. How cool is that? You can enjoy Margaret's product offerings and inspiration at her newly designed (and very beautiful!) website. And if you're looking for a new summer lip color, get a load of the new Marilyn Mineral Lip Gloss while you're there!
6. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Hugs and Kisses Body Creme
I
have never had especially sensitive skin. I can't exfoliate with sandpaper, but
for most of my life, I can use anything and not have any adverse reaction. I have heard others talk about things like eczema
and rosacea, but neither I nor anyone in my immediate family had those problems.
Whenl I had children of my own, I began to fully appreciate how delicate skin is
from the time we are born. Recently, I have been enjoying a product from Baby Breaux
(IBN member since July 2003) that
I can't say enough about!
Hugs and Kisses Body
Creme
4 oz. | $9.00
By the way, the stuff feels great on the skin. Must be the aloe butter -- creamy, thick and rich. The scent is delicate from the chamomile and the texture is" to dive for." (Is that a good play on words?) This product makes a nice moisturizer for any purpose but it's great to know that it also heals skin irritations. Amazing!
You can get your own Hugs and Kisses Body Creme, and other products pictured here: Milk and Cookies Buttermilk and Oatmeal Bath, Tender Touches and Baby Bottoms Lotion Bar and Sweet Dreams and Lullabies Lotion, at Baby Breaux. Also, enjoy my Lifestyle CEO Internet Radio Show interview with Baby Breaux owner Julie Breaux and other IBN members. (You will need Windows Media Player to enjoy the interview.)
7. Here & There: Calendar of Upcoming IBN Sponsored Events
As always, there's a lot going on at IBN, and our members are very busy. I'll be including this chart in upcoming issues so everyone can stay abreast of the happening here at IBN!
| Date | Event | Location & Registration |
| May 15, 2006 | 1Q 2006 Handmade Beauty Business Magazine mailings begin | Your mailbox! |
| May 26, 2006 | IBN Live! | Monthly conference call; free for members |
| May 31, 2006 | Lifestyle CEO Lecture, Q&A and Book Signing | Mocha Moms of Silver Spring, MD. Free, but advance registration is required. To register, email Toni. |
| July 15, 2006 | IBN's Business Growth Conference | Secaucus New Jersey; Register |
| September 23, 2006 | Lifestyle CEO Workshop :: For Entrepreneurs in the Natural Aromatics Industry, with dM and Natural Aromatics Expert Rosanne Tartaro of SunRose Aromatics | SunRose Aromatics, New York; registration to be announced |
| October 13-14, 2006 | Two Days With dM and Lisa Price of Carol's Daughter | The Open Center, New York; registration to be announced |
| February 2007 | The Lifestyle CEO Conference (pictures from 2006 conference) | Washington, DC, registration to be announced |
Check out our new Events Calendar! IBN members can use this link to submit their own events for inclusion! Are you teaching a soapmaking, aromatherapy or herbal class or seminar? Are you hosting a gathering? Log on to submit your event!!
Best & Success!!
Donna Maria
Editor, The Handmade Beauty Connection
The Indie Beauty Network | www.handmadebeauty.com
Copyright (c) 2000 - 2006 by The Indie Beauty Network (IBN) and Donna Maria. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized distribution or reproduction is prohibited. IBN does not necessarily endorse any product, event or ideology featured in The Handmade Beauty Connection (HBC) or on IBN's website. All information is provided on an "as is" basis and no express or implied warranties are given. Any use of the information contained in the HBC or on IBN's web site, including recipes, is solely at your own risk. IBN and Donna Maria disclaim any liability in connection with the use of all recipes, products reviewed and other information. Except for sponsorships, HBC refuses compensation from companies to feature or mention their names or products. Opinions expressed in any Product Review are personally those of the reviewer and do not represent the views of IBN, Donna Maria (unless she is the reviewer) or any other person or company.
